A Hundred Ways to Fall in Love
by Zeburaika
Summary: One hundred chapters, one hundred moments in the lives of N and Touko. Second prompt: Gray.
1. Introduction

**A/N:** As you probably guessed from the description of this fic, I'm taking on the 100 Themes Challenge- with a slight twist. Yes, I'll start with the first prompt on the list (Introduction, which is a little shorter than I'd originally intended xD;;), but after that, it's all up to you as readers to decide where this challenge will take me. From here on out, the only words I'll use as prompts will be the ones suggested by reviewers. You'll be credited if your word is used, and anything is fair game (as long as it's appropriate). Most will be oneshots, but I'm hoping to throw in a few sequential story arcs here and there. Whatever happens, you're guaranteed one hundred chapters of N/Touko goodness. Feel free to challenge me with the weirdest words you know! But I think I've done more than enough talking for now- so let's get to the actual writing, shall we? xD;;

Wish me luck, and I hope you enjoy!

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><p>Her name is Touko.<p>

She's a brunette, and he's already noticed the way her eyes light up when she smiles. Only his friends ever smiled around him before now. People- at the rallies, in the castle, during battles... people always looked so angry, and it takes him a heartbeat too long to understand. Her smile is different from Woobat's, from Darmanitan's. It is a flash of white, it is a moment of smothered laughter and clear blue eyes. Mischievous, secretive- like Zorua, he decides. But Zorua can take so much from so many, and he can't help but wonder. (_Could a girl be so complex?_)

He doesn't understand her, but he wants to. 

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><p>His name is N.<p>

He has long green hair and an honesty about him that's refreshing after so much caution and skepticism from Cheren. He talks too fast, in strange, unpredictable bursts, and she tries to convince herself that that's why she's hanging on his every word. Tries to stop wondering if (_maybe, just maybe_) there was something to those half-remembered fairy tales after all.

Cheren tells her that the cube hanging by his side is a Menger sponge. _(Infinite surface, zero volume.)_ She doesn't know if the same is true of its owner. Catching that green gaze and seeing the way his eyes seem to go on forever, she doubts it. There are bits and pieces of his being there, parts of him that don't quite add up to a whole. Emotions lost in a haze of colored blocks and coronations.

He's broken, but she likes to think she can put him back together.

_(And maybe, just maybe, she's right.)_


	2. Gray

**perspective****: **N's outlook, but Touko-centric**  
>prompt<strong>_:_ Alice Barden's _Gray_

**A/N:** As a heads up, this one's a little angsty, and leans more towards the abstract. I'm planning something pretty fluffy though, so if you're into that sort of thing, I'll be making it up to you with what's coming soon, hopefully in an update or two. Anyway, thanks for reading!

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><p>Pokemon never lie.<p>

That is exactly why he is here. Because there is a girl who's been confusing him, painting the world in all the wrong colors, and now he has to know which one she is, good or bad, black or white, because he can't afford to understand anything else. Not now. So he'll ask the one who knows her best- or at least, the best friend of hers that he can trust. Hours of confusion and agony had led up to this moment, standing before a trainer and her partner, Pignite. So he leans in close, knees brushing the dirt as they see eye to eye, and breathes out anticipation.

"Hey, Pignite. Would you tell me what kind of trainer Touko is?"

At first the meaning comes slowly, words and emotions slurred in his mind's eye, and he translates sloppily as its halting speech goes on. But gradually the Pokemon's words shift, speed and intensity suddenly amplified, and he falls silent, letting the meaning wash over him and waiting for a sense of relief that never comes.

_Touko was born in Nuvema Town, lives with her mom, and was given a Pokedex to start off a journey to see the world. Her father left in the summer of her sixth birthday, and she feels guilty because it's still her favorite season, even though she hates to see her mother cry. She loves Sitrus berries and sunshine, and she's scared to be alone, but she worries that she doesn't know what love is, that it'll pass her by because she didn't think to grab it before it was too late. When she wakes up in the morning after dreaming, she keeps her eyes closed so it'll stay with her a little while longer. And I've only heard so much because she talks_- _cries?_ (N wonders, because his grasp of this word is only fleeting)_- in her sleep, but she wants someone to know these things, and she wants that someone to be you._

N shares none of this with Touko. Because (and he is heartbroken by the realization that he might be among them) people lie. Because suddenly the world isn't just black and white- there is red there, staining his cheeks and running through his veins, but most of all there is gray, uncertainty and good and bad and new shades he's never seen, doesn't understand. So he stumbles through his goodbyes (apologies?), explaining away the silence and wishing he could understand this girl who colors outside the lines. He warns her, tries desperately to make her realize what had to happen, even as he struggles not to admire the image she has created for him. "As a result... Pokemon and trainers who care about one another, like you and your Pokemon, will be separated. And that does break my heart a little," he concludes, and she watches as he disappears. Wishing she could wonder, desperate to find room for doubt- convinced that hating him would be so much easier than this.

(And what is _this_, if not love?)

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><p><strong>AN: **This was my first time writing from canon events (the N encounter in Mistralton, to be exact), and one of few present-tense pieces I've worked on, so hopefully I did an okay job of it xD;; It was more experimental than anything else, so I'm sorry if it's not quite what you expected from the challenge, but I was mostly just testing the water with this one. For me, the word gray immediately brings to mind N's conflicted emotions as the game goes on, when he starts to question the simplicity of the world his father had raised him to believe in. Several people also wanted to see N talking to Touko's Pokemon, so I thought it might be a nice tie-in. I'm confident that the majority of the prompts will be more upbeat than this one orz;;

In any case, I hope you enjoyed, and thanks to Alice Barden for the suggestion! Feel free to leave your own in a review or a PM :3

~Raika


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